


Monsters In MY Zombietale?

by x_Silent_x_Limbo_x



Category: Left 4 Dead (Video Games), Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Underfell, Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, Explicit Language, F/F, F/M, M/M, Self-Mutilation, botched self-healing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-10
Updated: 2017-07-21
Packaged: 2018-11-30 05:34:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 10,342
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11457039
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/x_Silent_x_Limbo_x/pseuds/x_Silent_x_Limbo_x
Summary: Echo was having a bad enough time with The Green Flu, he really did not need violent monsters seeing the sun for the first time on top of that. He only wanted to give them a fair chance at survival. They had seemed so confused and everyone deserved a chance right? Getting roped into helping them rebuild was NOT his idea of a good time. Was it too late to change his mind and foist them off on someone else?





	1. The Infection Begins

Echo had always hated being sick more than _anything_. More than being injured, more than dealing with strangers, more than being late, and more than losing internet. He had always hated being sick, but this new illness...the way it made his body ache and his mind haze with heat and pain, the way it twisted his body into something gruesome and repulsive. It was enough to drive him to madness. For a long time he was so angry, so angry and _hungry._ But his family had done their best to keep him out of trouble, they kept him locked in the basement and fed him the animals they managed to trap in the chaos of The Green Flu.

 

At first when he got sick it was only a fever, but it made his body ache and his mind fuzzy. He slept mostly, but then he always slept before too. His body hurt so much and then the nausea set in, he started puking up blood and his body began to change. Boils and bits of flesh scabbing over, his teeth got longer and sharper, and his fingers lengthened and turned into claws. His father tried to take him to the hospital but the hospital had been over run and refused them at the door for having a lower priority insurance. They had refused to even look at him so in complete fury Ryan brought his son home and kept him in the living room in an effort to care for him.

 

At least he was kept in the living room until the neighbors had gotten sick as well. The neighbors went down fast, becoming violent and mindless. They attacked anything that moved and could not seem to be reasoned with. The infection spread fast and though Ryan and Gracie did not fall to The Green Flu, it was already too late for Echo and his siblings Seth and Julia were too far for them to do anything about. Ryan and Gracie could not evacuate with Echo infected as he was.

 

Unfortunately delirium set in for a while and Echo had not been entirely there for a while, he had become violent though he had not actively tried to harm Ryan and Gracie, somehow still able to recognize his mother and father. His violence was kept more for random objects around the house, which was how he ended up locked in the basement where he could no longer draw attention with his tantrums. Ryan had gotten sick of dispatching Infected strangers when they heard the ruckus and were drawn by the sound. Ryan had always been compassionate for the ill, it broke his heart to harm those suffering of the virus but he could not risk being killed either. Not with Gracie and Echo relying on him.

 

After nearly a month of The Green Flu sweeping through the country and taking out almost the entire population Echo seemed to finally begin awakening from the haze. Though his body ached terribly and he could still feel the fever he became less confused and his comprehension improved. He improved enough to awaken bound to his own bed that had been moved to the basement. He woke alone and confused about his location but otherwise better than he had been. Still sluggish and drowsy Echo tugged at the chains holding him and began to panic.

 

“D-dad? Mom? Mama! Dad!” Echo shrieked his voice rougher and a little more garbled than he was used to, the pain of speaking almost unbearable. There was a loud crash, like a plate shattering and rushing footsteps. He heard the door to the basement burst open and familiar steps pounding down the wooden stairs. Those were his mother’s footsteps, he recognized them so easily. They sounded so much closer than before, had he always been able to hear this well?

 

“Echo?! Echo are you back?” The familiar voice of his mother filled the basement and Echo turned his head to the source, he could not see her very well, his vision had always been shit but it felt worse than ever.

 

“Mama why...basement? What...going on?” Echo asked his voice tired and wavering, his throat still hurt and he was having trouble speaking. Gracie let out a small sob as she rushed over to the bed where he lay and gently brushed his sweat-matted curls from his face. He looked so different with the mutations from the virus. His eyes glowed brightly and his mouth was full of fangs, but there were those same familiar features, sharper versions of Gracie’s features.

 

“Oh papi...papi you got sick. You got sick and you were confused like I get sometimes. So we had to put you down here so you didn’t hurt yourself or break anything.” Gracie explained leaning over to kiss his forehead. His anxiety eased with his mother’s presence, her gentle voice soothing and warm. Though he noticed that she smelled so much stranger than before, kind of _gross_ really. But he supposed it might just be the flu, though he was breathing better than ever he was smelling some pretty gnarly shit at the moment and some of it was his own body.

 

“I’m...I’m not...just flu...right? Mind...not gone?” Echo asked fearfully, his voice growing quiet and soft.

 

“No sweetie, it was just the fever making you confused. I’ll get the key from Papa and we’ll let you come upstairs now that you’re feeling better.” Gracie assured him gently, brushing his hair with her fingers and kissing his forehead again. Echo whined his cheeks darkening a little.

 

“Maaaa, staaahp. Not baby.” Echo complained, Gracie laughed loudly though it turned into a sob a few tears dropping onto his face. Concerned Echo reached up to brush away his mother’s tears the chains just barely allowing him. “Okay Mama...I’m feeling much better now.”

 

“Oh Echo...the world’s gone to shit lately and I thought I lost you. I haven’t heard from your brother or sister in weeks...I just...I don’t know what to do. I should have made them stay, should have made them come home when you first got sick.” Gracie sobbed and flopped onto his chest hugging him tightly, Echo’s heart broke hearing his mother so distraught.

 

“Mama nooo... You didn’t know...did your best. Sorry I’m trouble...but ‘m okay now…think ’m gettin’ better...kinda feel like shit…. but I’ll get up ‘n we go find Seth ‘n Julia kay?” Echo soothed hugging Gracie tightly and rubbing soothing circles into her back.

 

Though his nails caught on her teeshirt and he had to tug his hand away. He brought his hand closer to his face and finally got a good look at his hand only to blanch. Those were not his hands, his hands were thin and a little crooked but they were normal! These hands were longer, broader, and they had long deadly claws. There were ugly boils near his wrists and forearms, some of the flesh clawed off.

 

“M-Mama? Wh-what...what’s wrong with my arms? With my body...what...what happened to me?” Echo whimpered terrified, Gracie sobbed into his pajama shirt and held him tighter.

 

“My baby...my sweet baby, my good boy...” Gracie sobbed unable to explain what had happened only sobbing into his thin chest. “Look what they did to you...they did this, they did this...”

 

“Who Ma? Who did this? What did they do?” Echo asked his voice high and a little panicky.

 

“The government, some new plague or weapon, something! They think it was airborn but it kept mutating too fast and that stupid CEDA gave us ridiculous advice to combat the plague, called it a flu! No flu does this Echo! No flu sweeps in and mutates your children, your friends and neighbors! Turns them into living zombies and makes them rabid and violent. I thought...I thought I lost you.” Gracie admitted sobbing hard, Echo hugged her tighter this time more careful of the claws he had grown.

 

“I’m okay Mom, I’m okay...” Echo tried to comfort his mother, he had never been able to handle her crying. Echo paused when he heard someone enter the house upstairs his head snapping to the ceiling. He sniffed the air reflexively and found he recognized the scent, though it was a little different than he remembered. He relaxed holding his mama gently. “Mama, Dad’s home.”

 

“Ryan? But how...” Gracie was confused about how he could know that but did not have the time to ask as the familiar heavy footsteps pounded towards the basement.

 

“Gracie you better not be trying to pick his locks again! If he wanders away he’ll get hurt I _told_ you-” Ryan shouted down the stairs as he thudded down the stairs only to see Echo hugging Gracie tightly, he hesitated a moment but slumped with relief when Echo waved vaguely in his direction. Echo could certainly smell him better than he could actually see him.

 

“Hey Dad...um...what’s going on?” Echo asked hoping that Ryan would be a little more clear than Gracie had been. While he did understand what she was saying he found it somewhat unbelievable. Ryan walked over and gently urged Gracie to get up so that he could unlock Echo’s restraints.

 

“You caught a fuckin’ zombie virus is what. Lucky I didn’t smash your damn head in.” Ryan scolded Echo even as he took a key from his pocket and carefully unlocked the bulky home-made shackles and chains he had been restrained with.

 

“For real? You can’t be serious!” Echo protested before coughing violently. He had been speaking far too much for how sore his throat still was. Luckily he was free enough to cover his mouth with his elbow so he did not cough on his family.

 

“Nobody knows what the fuck happened but about a month ago there was an outbreak of something the CEDA called The Green Flu. Fuckin’ misnomer if you ask me. Damn thing took out at least ninety percent of everyone in the damn country. Anyone that didn’t get sick got fuckin’ slaughtered by the people that _did_ get sick. It’s like fuckin’ rabies!” Ryan explained, Echo’s glowing eyes widened his jaw dropping a little as he sat up finally fully free from the restraints.

 

“No, but...humans can’t...catch rabies…Not like...like animals do...” Echo protested breathing raggedly between some words as he tried to space out his voice so it did not hurt so badly to speak.

 

“Except for whatever the fuck this is. It literally makes people that catch it rabid and violent. Then there are the people that started mutating from it. The people like _you_. You were violent for a while but still talked sometimes so we locked you down here instead of letting you run off like you kept trying to.” Ryan continued, Echo tilted his head, somehow he did not believe that Ryan would have been able to hurt him even if he had gone completely rabid.

 

“No one...tried to help?...No...no evac?” Echo asked, Gracie scoffed crossing her arms as she sat down on the bed beside Echo.

 

“They tried to send evacuation orders but like fuck were we going with the fucking military! Can’t trust them as far as we can fuckin’ throw the assholes. With the way everyone’s been mutating? No way they aren’t involved!” Gracie explained spitefully, Echo looked at her wide eyed before looking at Ryan hoping for some reason.

 

“Gracie is right, this whole thing reeks of government conspiracies. Probably some weaponized bullshit they were testing that got out of hand,” Ryan agreed dashing Echo’s hopes for reason. “...Besides, there was no way they would have let you live and we’re not leaving you.”

 

“Guys! No! That...that’s danger...gerous! Should...should go with evac! What-what if Seth...or Ju...Julia are there?” Echo scolded them as best he could with a barely working voice. Gracie hugged Echo tightly and Ryan sat beside him as well putting a gentle arm around his aching shoulders.

 

“We couldn’t leave you like that...not with the others shooting every Infected they saw and not with how delirious you were.” Gracie explained tearfully.

 

“Oldest or not you’re still our kid too. We’ll protect you for as long as we can Echo.” Ryan sighed leaning his head on Echo’s, Echo felt himself tear up a little.

 

“I’m better...you go to evac…” Echo ordered his voice bubbling from the tears he fought to hold back.

 

“Later sweetie...later.” Gracie denied, Ryan remained quiet.


	2. Monsters Are NOT Zombies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The monsters finally surface.

It took almost an entire week for Echo to convince Gracie and Ryan to at least try and get to an evacuation center. Luckily with Echo escorting them to the evacuation center there were far less Infected trying to kill them than usual, Echo could at least convince the special infected like himself to leave or distract them long enough for his parents to escape. Another stroke of luck for his parents was their own rougher childhoods, Gracie used to seven brothers and gang activity was fast on her feet and very quiet, Ryan as an ex biker gang member knew how to wield a pipe with precision and deadly force. Though Gracie had grown soft in her years as a mother, Ryan had kept most of his strength as a lumber worker.

 

Echo discovered quite a bit about his new body as he escorted his parents. He was faster than he ever remembered being, stronger, and his senses much more sensitive. Though he was still blind as a bat without his glasses. Though his glasses were hard to keep on his face when he had to leap around and tackle other Infected away from his Mama or farther. He found that pumped with adrenalin he could even scale the sides of buildings. He could sense other infected and even survivors up to a very wide distance which was both strange and very helpful with guiding his parents.

 

Unfortunately he had to leave them before they really reached the evacuation point so that the soldiers there would not shoot him on sight. He kept watch from a nearby building, too paranoid to allow his parents out of his sense range until he knew they were safe with the others. Of course once they made it and he was alone he had not really been sure what to do with himself. He could not approach other survivors as they would likely try to kill him on sight and other Infected were a hit and miss when it came to communication. Sometimes they were sane enough, most times they were not and that only made him sad and tired.

 

The loneliness of his house drove him to wander in the forest for a bit, he had ended up taking a nap in the forest at the edge of the mountain when he heard the sound of a bunch of voices shouting, half asleep and mostly out of it he responded instinctively and jumped up to all fours bolting towards the shrieking wails. He got to the source fairly fast since the screams were in the forest as well. Rushing to the sounds he heard a small child wailing and woke up a little more as concern overtook him.

 

There had not been a live child in the area since he had gotten ill, at least as far as he knew. He rushed into the treetops and leapt from tree to tree until he found the group that was getting attacked. He almost fell out of the tree when he saw who was getting attacked. There was a group of strange creatures, only three of them were even humanoid and two were skeletons while the last was a robot. That was confusing enough to see but the small skeleton was chasing something further into the forest.

 

Curious Echo followed after in the trees until he spotted a child being dragged off by what looked like a smoker tongue. Feeling urgent Echo moved faster to stop the child being dragged away, he needed to stop them before they killed the kid. Leaping from the tree he quickly cut the tongue and snatched the wailing child up. The tongue went slack but the child continued to struggle and try to get free. Luckily Echo was able to keep hold of them.

 

“Shhh, shhhh, shhhh...you call more...stop noise...” Echo pleaded his voice scratchy and frail.

 

Echo did not seem to get through to the wailing child and the odd skeleton creature was still chasing after them screaming and raging, they were really cussing up a storm! With a sigh Echo finally untangled the child from the tongue and held them out by the scruff to keep their flailing away from him. He climbed a little down the tree one handed and just dropped the child at the base of the tree before leaping away again as the skeleton shot what appeared to be sharpened bones at him of all things. Echo yelped and jumped away, sheesh, that’s what he gets for trying to help the uninfected.

 

Either way he needed to find that smoker and get them to leave, it would suck for there to be even _less_ people around and frankly those creatures seemed dangerous with all those spikes and dark clothing. Echo was not willing to stick around for a fight, he bolted into the rest of the trees to go find the smoker. It did not take him long to find them, they were puffing up clouds of sweet-smelling gas. Echo could breath it just fine but knew that uninfected could not breath it in without almost suffocating from it.

 

“Hey! You causin’ trouble! Knock it off.” Echo ordered pointing a scolding clawed finger at the smoker. The smoker was slouched and trying to pull their severed tongue back in, he watched Echo with cloudy glowing eyes as though not really comprehending what was being said. Echo sighed and stepped forward to help the smoker gather his gross slimy tongue. “Stop stealin’ kid...you get hurt.”

 

“...Huuuu...” The smoker only groaned at him and Echo tried to lead him away.

 

“Hurt kid is bad. Keep tongue to y’self.” Echo tried to push him back towards town and away from the goth furries. He was not sure how they could stand those costumes, surely they were bulky and hard to move in.

 

“Hey you! The fuck is your problem?” A loud male voice demanded causing Echo to squeak and jump. The smoker reacted violently lashing out with their tongue to snag the short stout skeleton. The child from before squeaked in fear and hid behind the skeleton and Echo yanked on the smoker’s hair trying to get him to stop.

 

“No, no! Baby! Only a baby!” Echo cried desperately trying to get the smoker to pay attention to him and stop. Normally he could at least convince the specials like him that it was not worth it to fight. Then something weird and totally unexpected happened, the world went dark and in front of the smoker floated a sickly yellow cartoonish heart that looked like it was melting. Echo was so surprised that he let go of the smoker. “W-wha?”

 

The smoker let their tongues roll out and lashed out with one of their tongues attempting to latch onto the skeleton again, but this time the skeleton dodged with the child and threw a series of sharp red glowing bones at the smoker impaling the heart and the smoker simultaneously. Echo stared wide-eyed having never seen anything like that outside of a video game. He looked over at the skeleton with wide glowing eyes completely shocked for a moment before he immediately crouched and tried to bound away. Only to be caught by something inside his chest being seized by an unseen force and yanking him back towards the two uninfected and slamming him into the ground.

 

“Owwwwwie...” Echo wheezed rolling onto his back, that had almost broken his ribs. He was so confused about how this was even happening, was he delusional again?

 

“What the fuck is goin’ on up here. What’s wrong with all of ya?” The skeleton demanded, Echo peeked up at him through his glasses and saw one glowing crimson eyesocket. One side of his skull was cracked to the eyesocket and the other was empty of light. His teeth were as jagged and sharp as Echo’s were, though the skeleton had a gold tooth.

 

“...Infection...bad flu...got sick. Some die...others go mad...rabid.” Echo managed to wheeze out. He got up onto his feet but remained hunched, his gaze flickered to the child for a moment, he felt the need to warn them. “Children gone...keep safe...”

 

The child flinched and hid a little further behind the skeleton grabbing onto his furry collared jacket. Echo frowned sympathetically but dropped into a crouch again, if he could distract this thing for a moment he would be able to leave.

 

“What happened to the kids? Why ain’t ya rabid like the rest of ‘em?” The skeleton demanded, Echo shrugged since he really did not have an answer.

 

“Some immune...Infected kill Immune...they kill us and we kill them. Some different like me...most not.” Echo explained his eyes flickering around for escape routes. The child seemed to be listening raptly to him.

 

“Ya ain’t killed anyone.” The skeleton snorted startling Echo, how could _they_ have known that?

 

Echo was rather unsettled that the skeleton knew that about him and would have denied it if not for the loud shriek that distracted both the skeleton and the child. Echo recognized the shriek as a Witch and bolted, they would be surrounded soon but clearly the skeleton had it handled. He was only in danger there.

 

“Hey!” The skeleton shouted for him but it was already too late and Echo was long gone hopping from treetop to treetop to get away from the dangerous situation.

 

Echo would have gotten away if the darn skeleton had not suddenly appeared directly in front of him out of nowhere! Echo squeaked and the skeleton did that weird chest seizing thing to him again only he kept him in the air. Echo squirmed trying to get away before realizing that the kid was not with them.

 

“Baby! You left the baby!” Echo protested immediately.

 

“You’re comin’ with us, if you quit runnin’ then I won’t have ta chase ya.” The skeleton reached out and grabbed Echo’s bandaged up wrist harshly digging into the many cuts, though that was the least of his problems as the world upended and gravity deactivated for a brief moment. He landed harshly on the ground and fell to his knees to vomit a stomach full of blood and bile. Echo moaned, he hated being sick. “Alright get up, that scream sounded like trouble.”

 

“Bluh...Witch...hoard...” Echo groaned his breathing shaky as he tried to fight off the nausea.

 

“Witch? Ya still got magic up here?” The skeleton asked in disbelief. Echo looked up at him with one squinted eye baffled.

 

“Magic? Bitch...magic ain’t real.” Echo slurred, “Delusional...”

 

At this point he was mostly calling himself delusional because there was no way that any of this was happening. He had another fever, the flu was making him delirious again and he was hallucinating and would probably get shot but everything would be fine. He was fine and not seeing _Halloween monsters_. Sure that meant that the kid was not real either but at least his life could go back to monotony.

 

“Yeah, outta the two of us I’m delusional.” The skeleton snorted causing the child to giggle. “Let’s get goin’ Frisk, Boss probably destroyed half the forest by now.”

 

“I’m goin’ back to sleep.” Echo muttered after pushing some dirt and leaves around to cover his puke. He did not like leaving it laying around.

 

“No ya ain’t. You gotta explain what’s goin’ on on the surface to the king.” The skeleton said, the child made a few hand gestures that Echo did not understand and the skeleton nodded. “Sweetheart’s right let’s go.”

 

“Noooo...sleep...” Echo laid down in the grass a short distance from his sick up.

 

“C’mon kid get up. Ain’t got the time for this shit.” The skeleton urged nudging Echo’s hip with his shoe.

 

Echo groaned loudly but stood up again anyway. This delirium was going to get him killed, he could just feel it in his bones. He almost laughed at the pun in his thoughts but was simply too tired to do so. He pouted at the skeleton which caused the child to actually laugh in surprise.


	3. A Delay in Information

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The trouble with trying to kidnap someone is that you don't know if they have friends.

Echo reluctantly followed the slightly shorter skeleton creature and the tiny child as they went back to where his main group was, and also where the wailing of the witch was coming from. Once they were close enough he was surprised to find he recognized her, that familiar form, larger than most witches she was taller than him and certainly wider but he recognized her smell and her shape and that blood red hair. With a delighted shriek Echo sprang forward and pounced onto her back hugging her tightly. The witch stumbled shrieking confusedly again and drawing more infected from their surroundings and the attention of the strange beings, but Echo hardly noticed as caught up as he was in the moment.

 

“Cindy! Cindyyyy, Ciiiindy~” Echo sang out raggedly as he nuzzled her head overwhelmed by finding someone he knew after so long. Cindy stopped her sobbing at his voice and reached up with a long clawed hand grasping him by his hoodie and holding him by the scruff like a cat in front of herself. She looked at him with some confusion for a few moments before she seemed to recognize his face and she hugged him tightly.

 

“’Co, ‘co, ‘co...” She cooed delightedly as she nuzzled him.

 

She no longer seemed interested in whatever had originally bothered her despite the swarm of Infected that had arrived to surround them. There were not that many since they were in the outer rural area of the city and closer to the mountain, but there were enough that there was now a crowd just lingering around getting mowed down by the strange creatures. Echo looked around at them and began to look severely concerned.

 

“Should run...danger.” Echo suggested concerned about getting impaled or sawed in half by the four armed robot person. These people looked so dangerous, Cindy shook her head hissing at them as a few tears rolled down her cheeks.

 

“You better not fuckin’ run! I told ya yer explainin’ this shit to us!” The short skeleton hissed aggravated while shielding the small child from harm.

 

“What is there to explain, if the humans wish for a war then we shall oblige.” The tall bearded goat man roared, he seemed a little too thrilled to be tearing apart the more common infected. Echo whimpered and reached out to hug Cindy with his whole body.

 

“They’re rabid yer majesty. Kid’s gonna explain better after we get rid’a ‘em but these humans’re sick.” The short skeleton announced drawing the attention of the other goat person in the dress.

 

“Sick? What do you mean Sans?” The woman asked, the small skeleton was interrupted from answering by Cindy’s wail calling even more infected. Echo flinched violently startled by the shriek.

 

“What...doing?” Echo asked his voice still not really working properly despite his mind becoming sharper the more time passed. Cindy looked confused for a moment before she looked around again as though searching for something.

 

“Gross...bad...hurt...” Cindy growled a little tearfully, she did not seem as coherent as Echo was but Echo knew he could work with her on that.

 

“Gross? Not sick?” Echo asked for clarification, recently he had noticed that those that were uninfected smelt rather strange to him, not necessarily _foul_ but not _right_ either, likely it was what she was talking about.

 

“Yes...bad, hurt us...” Cindy explained as well as she could. Echo nodded in understanding.

 

“Run! Not...as fast...we run...away...they don’t...hurt us.” Echo suggested easily, it had worked so far for him.

 

“Dead...no more hurt.” Cindy protested with a glare, her eyes glowing.

 

“Too mean...only scared.” Echo disagreed quickly, his parents were uninfected after all he did not want anyone hurting them if he could help it.

 

“Too soft...you hurt by not-sick.” Cindy sighed and held Echo a little closer to herself as she pat his back.

 

“Only scared.” Echo replied with a shrug, he beamed up at her however. “Go play?”

 

“No...find hurt...” Cindy disputed turning towards the slowly dwindling common infected.

 

“Noooo play!” Echo whined not wanting to lose his friend so quickly after finding her. He wanted to play a game with her, he had been so lonely! “Play, play, play.”

 

“Ugh, fine. Play.” Cindy caved rather easily and Echo shrieked with delight disentangling himself from her and tugging at her hand intending to draw her away from the mountain and back to his parents house so they could play video games together as they used to do before the plague had spread.

 

“Oi! I said don’t leave!” Sans protested as he cut down another infected. Echo pouted at him and whined but stomped over to grab the closest infected and pull them away.

 

“No! No fight!” Echo demanded as well as he could with his damaged vocal cords. He yanked at her and pushed her in the opposite direction of the group. He whacked the commoner on the head. “Bad!”

 

The common infected looked so confused and just sort of stood there as though unsure of what to do. Echo went back to try and grab another but they got impaled through the chest with a massive red glowing spear. Echo flinched and sniffled his shoulders drooping, he thought he could of helped that one. They were _sick_ , they were just _confused_ they did not understand anymore that what they were doing was _wrong_. He looked up a little teary as a large woman stood over him, she looked like a strange kind of blue mermaid with legs.

 

“Why the fuck should we even give these humans the chance to kill us?” The woman snarled at him holding a blue spear threateningly over him. He flinched and opened his mouth to let out a wail but was interrupted by Cindy shrieking and tackling the fish woman to the ground and slashing violently at her. The woman blocked as best she could with her armor but Cindy was ripping through it like tinfoil. Echo wailed and jumped up to yank Cindy off of her.

 

“NO NO NO BADBADBAD!!” Echo shrieked trying to reason with his dear friend before she got killed. Unfortunately she seemed completely deranged at that moment and no longer listened to him even going so far as to slap him away as she slashed at her. A large bone flew from the taller skeleton and impaled Cindy causing her to become lodged in the ground and allowing the woman the chance to roll away.

 

“HA! SO EASILY TAKEN DOWN BY A RABID HUMAN! YOU ARE GROWING WEAK UNDYNE!” A loud rough voice cackled gleefully.

 

“CINDY! CINDYCINDYCINDY!!” Echo wailed loudly and rushed to aid his friend.

 

A loud roar sounded along with the heavy stomping of something Echo instantly recognized, a charger. Echo did not bother to turn around however crying over his friend and yanking the bone from her gut. She was bleeding heavily and Echo tried to stem the blood flow. He heard a crash of a tree breaking behind him but missed it due to his focus, at least until he was heafted over a large bulky shoulder along with Cindy and the charger that picked them up ran at full speed away from the battle taking place behind them.

 

“Hey! Get back here!” Sans voice called in the distance, fortunately they were already too far for the strange uninfected to do anything about it.

 

The charger was taking them far away, through the suburbs and back into the city. They would not be able to follow not without knowing the streets as well as a city dweller would. Eventually the charger tired out however and he had to stop, breathing heavily he set Echo and Cindy down on the empty city street and sat down heavily before them. Echo did not glance at them too focused on Cindy potentially bleeding out. He rolled her onto her back and examined her carefully. He breathed a sigh of relief finding that she was already clotting and the bleeding was slowing. He had not realized that their healing had increased with the infection...so long as it was not a symptom that was trying to heal it seemed.

 

Echo pulled off his hoodie and then his shirt, he used his shirt as a compress and applied pressure to the wound. They need only wait for the bleeding to stop on its own. Perhaps they could raid the hospital for supplies...He turned to look at their rescuer and his eyes widened, he knew that face!

 

“Allen?” Echo asked in disbelief, well it figured that Allen would not have been far from his youngest sibling. He had always been protective and the call of a witch was difficult to ignore anyway. “Where’s Leslie?”

 

“...huuu...” It seemed that Allen was unable to articulate a proper sentence despite the clarity of his gaze. He understood but his voice would not work. Echo sighed his shoulders drooping as he looked down at Cindy whom had long passed out and began to snore.

 

“...Miss Penny...Penny would know...what to do...” Echo sighed laying down on Cindy’s belly. Allen snorted at him and shook his head, Echo looked up at him for a few moments before smiling and snorting himself. “You’re right...stupid...no she wouldn’t...Shit’s crazy...still miss Penny...”

 

“...huuuuurrr...” Allen rumbled reaching out with his smaller arm to pat Echo on the head.

 

“...Did you see them too?” Echo asked faintly, he was still a little concerned that he was delusional again and his fever was making him hallucinate. Allen nodded, clearly he had seen them too.

 

“Should prob help them...danger...survivors think new mutate.” Echo tried to articulate but he had already spoken far too much that day and his voice was in tatters his throat sore. Allen shook his head in refusal, Echo frowned at him and sighed. “Leave note…yeah...note...”

 

Allen shook his head again in refusal but Echo was already pushing himself up, Allen growled and reached out with his oversized arm to push Echo back down but Echo dodged him and growled at him snapping his jaws at him. Allen snarled louder and attempted to grab him but missed as Echo crouched and pounced away, Echo was more agile than Allen was and gained a head start scaling the side of a building to get away from his friend.

 

“Be back!” Echo promised loudly as he quickly scattered away despite Allen attempting to chase after him roaring like an animal. Echo rolled his eyes, Allen was such a worry wart, he was only leaving a letter.

 

Echo made good time getting back to his parent’s house in the suburbs and gathering together his stationary and pens. It took him far longer than he would have liked to write down everything he had learned about The Green Flu and what was going on with the government. Which honestly was not much when in regards to the government but The Green Flu he knew quite a bit about. His hands ached horribly as he struggled to hold the pen, the stitched cuts from his self-lanced boils burning from the awkward position and pressure.

 

After finally finishing and making the writing look as legible as he could he sighed and folded up the papers stuffing them into an envelope. Echo got up and despite wanting so badly to just take a nap he knew that those strange creatures from the mountain would need the information as soon as possible. He grabbed some of his mother’s hairbands and went to the garden to grab a rock. No way was he actually going near them they could get the rock letter themselves.

 

With a large amount of apprehension Echo made his way back into the forest and to the mountain he went back to where he first encountered the group and found that they had long left. Though they were rather easy to track. The trail of bodies left a clear hint to where they went, not to mention the footprints and broken trees. They really demolished that area of the forest. Still, Echo wanted to be sure that they at least had the information they needed to survive, they seemed far too confused for it to be safe for them to wander the city.


	4. Echo's Exposition

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Echo gets roped into actually explaining what happened to the world while the monsters were underground. It looks like monsters weren't the only ones having a rough time of things.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I made a tumblr for Echo. It has some art of what Echo looks like. I also have pictures of what the other ocs look like, though I only drew two pictures of Echo myself and neither are of this particular au. Address is below.
> 
> https://xlimbosxechox.tumblr.com/

Echo was a little confused about the cave he found, he had never heard of a cave being on the mountain before. But then he had never really explored the mountain himself or cared much about it either. Not beyond the forest at least, he liked the forest. Still he shuffled from foot to foot warily in front of the cave. He guessed it was a good hiding spot but that also meant that if he went inside to find the strange creatures he may end up getting cornered and rendering his little letter completely pointless.

 

Still, they would need the information if they were to last. But...the information was not anything they could not find out on their own if they just read the signs posted everywhere. But clearly they had not been doing that so far either if they had no idea of what was going on. There were so many reasons _not_ to go into the cave and try to give them the letter, but his heart would not allow him to turn around and leave those creatures without a fair chance.

 

With a heavy sigh Echo stepped forward and quietly slunk inside. Despite how heavy his feet felt he did not make a sound as he moved, noise was dangerous in the new world order. He quietly made his way inside and was a little surprised to find that the cave was actually rather well-lit. He was only walking for a few moments when he reached a large and rather ornate room, like a throne room of all things. There was even a giant elaborate chair off to the side. He tilted his head with confusion, one would think something like this would have been found before. Just how much was the government hiding? _If_ they even knew about it.

 

“YOU! HUMAN! HALT!” A loud and rough sounding voice caused Echo to squeak and halt in his tracks. He looked around with wide glowing silver eyes and spotted a dramatically posing skeleton. They were dressed rather intimidatingly with spikes and a long tattered red scarf. “I AM TO SLAY ALL TRESPASSERS. STATE YOUR BUSINESS AT ONCE, THIS WILL BE YOUR ONLY CHANCE BEFORE YOU ARE CUT DOWN.”

 

“I-I...letter! I have a letter!” Echo squeaked out as best he could his voice faltering and somewhat frail. He thrust out the letter with both trembling hands. The skeleton looked at him grimly for a moment before snatching the letter from his hands and ripping it open to read it. Echo turned to flee now that he had done as he had intended but was halted by a wall of bones rising to cut off his path.

 

“REMAIN PUT HUMAN.” The skeleton ordered still reading through what was written. He seemed to furrow his brow bones, Echo was baffled by that alone. The skeleton’s skull was confusingly malleable. “IT SEEMS MY WRETCHED LAZY BROTHER WAS CORRECT. YOU WILL NEED TO COME WITH ME AND EXPLAIN PROPERLY IF ANY OF THIS LETTER HOLDS TRUE.”

 

“I mean...you had to of noticed? Nobody...nobody is themselves anymore...” Echo sighed sadly rubbing at his arms beneath his hoodie, the scabs and self-done stitches caught on the worn out fabric causing him to wince.

 

“...WE DID NOTICE THAT SOMETHING IS WRONG WITH YOU HUMANS. YOUR SOULS HAVE GONE RANCID.” The skeleton remarked confusing Echo greatly, as far as he knew souls were not something one could see. “FOLLOW ME HUMAN.”

 

“...” Echo wanted to refuse and flee but he knew that those weird bones would be the end of him if he tried. Tired and scared he followed after the obnoxiously tall skeleton as his heels clicked on the stone floors. Echo glanced at the tall, slightly threatening looking heels and could not help but admire them. This skeleton must have a lot of grace and coordination to balance so well on what basically amounted to knives, most times Echo could barely get his legs to work without going to all fours.

 

“YOU WILL EXPLAIN TO THE KING HOW THIS GREEN FLU IS SPREAD AND HOW IT IS AFFECTING THE HUMANS. THIS BARELY LEGIBLE GARBAGE WILL NOT DUE AT ALL.” The skeleton instructed him, Echo pouted a little.

 

“...I worked so hard on that letter...” Echo had thought it came out decently enough, at least the skeleton had been able to read the darn thing. The skeleton scoffed at him and lifted his head imperiously.

 

“YOU SHOULD HAVE TRIED HARDER. A CHILD COULD DO BETTER.” The skeleton mocked, Echo was a little annoyed.

 

“I’m _sick_! ...Can’t write...like I used to...” Echo’s voice became sadder as he spoke. He used to like writing, it was something fun he once did to pass the time. He used to be an editor...books had been his _life_ and now he could barely write a letter anymore. His eyes burned and he swallowed passed a lump in his throat, later, now was not the time for his own weaknesses. The skeleton paused to look back at him.

 

“SO YOU SHARE THIS ILLNESS WITH THOSE MAD HUMANS?” The skeleton paused turning to glare at him with a single bright red iris in a sea of empty black eye sockets.

 

“...Kind of? I...I’m a little...different...” Echo muttered his arms coming up to block his ribcage with his forearms unconsciously as he took a step back. “The Flu...ate their minds...I woke up…they’re still confused...”

 

“HM. WELL YOU ARE CLEARLY COHERENT, SIMPLY ANOTHER THING YOU WILL NEED TO EXPLAIN.” The skeleton opened some large doors and revealed a room with some of the previous group standing around a large table and arguing about something.

 

Upon seeing the skeleton enter with Echo the blue woman from before drew materialized a spear and the large royally dressed goat looking man drew a trident. Echo had to fight the urge to hide behind the tall skeleton and spotted the short skeleton with the human child from before hanging off of his side. The two seemed very close despite the goat looking woman looming over the two of them protectively and jealously.

 

“YOUR MAJESTY I HAVE BROUGHT A COHERENT HUMAN TO EXPLAIN THE STATE OF THE SURFACE. THE BROUGHT A LETTER BUT IT WAS NOTHING MORE THAN BLITHERING GARBAGE.” The skeleton explained, Echo scowled a little his cheeks puffing in a little pout, he had never actually wanted to bite anyone until that moment in time.

 

“That is the human that Sans brought to us before.” The goat woman said looking at him with thoughtful crimson eyes. Echo shrugged a little shifting from foot to foot. The goat man sighed and put away his trident looking far too tired, the blue woman snarled but dispersed her spear as well.

 

“Very well then, thank you Papyrus. Human, you have been spared for the moment for information. Explain now.” The kingly goat man spoke firmly, just barely keeping from snarling the order. Echo jumped a little, his flinch violent. He bit into his lip with sharp jagged teeth as he thought of where to begin. He took a deep breath and cleared his throat before he began.

 

“Few months ago...deadly plague swept through. Went through country _fast_...soon, everywhere. World fell to plague...plague made people confused, angry, _hungry_...Changed people...infected them...made them _different_...Immune killed Infected...Infected killed Immune. Immune can’t be trusted...dangerous...bad smell...” Echo tried to explain coherently, clearly but his voice wavered too much and made him frustrated.

 

“Hm...you say that the humans have all fallen to this plague...are you carrying the plague now?” The goat woman observed him thoughtfully and Echo nodded rubbing at his arm uncertainly.

 

“Hard...talk…broken voice...Letter better,” Echo told her sending a bit of an annoyed glare at Papyrus. Papyrus scoffed at him for saying so. Echo continued needing to warn them at least a little. “Government try to stop plague. Bomb cities, kill movement. Don’t care about survivors. Dangerous. Infected danger too...Confused, angry... _scared_.”

 

“So what yer sayin’ is that the entire surface got hit with a plague that changed all of ya and turned ya against each other. People that were and weren’t infected started fightin’ each other and now nobody can be trusted up there cause everyone is scared ‘a each other?” Sans asked for clarification and Echo pointed at him and nodded vigorously. “Well that fuckin’ sucks. We finally break the barrier and the surface is a fuckin’ shithole.”

 

“Nonsense. If the world is really as chaotic as this we will simply need to clear out some land for ourselves and take the surface. The humans will be too scattered and weak to force us back into the mountain. This actually presents an excellent opportunity.” The king goat said his expression calculating and dark. “You, I saw you attempting to reason with these plagued humans. Can you get them to obey you?”

 

Echo tilted his head wondering what this king could possibly be scheming, honestly he would not live up there if he did not _have_ to. Society was a complete wreck and everyone was at each other’s throats constantly. He wondered if he should even be honest but he really did not know anything about these people at all or what the heck they were on about. He knew nothing of the barrier or why they were so weird about the surface. Had they been stuck in the cave?

 

“...Kind of? Most listen...some too confused...too sick to listen, just want to eat or hurt. Fever makes hostile.” Echo explained as best he could.

 

“He was talkin’ to the tongue thing that grabbed Frisk earlier. Got it to let ‘em go...probably could’a gotten it to leave if I hadn’t jumped in. Then he talked down that shrieking woman earlier.” Sans commented thoughtfully. Echo frowned and nodded at him before wagging a scolding finger at him.

 

“You spook! No time to listen!” Echo frowned at the fish woman next. “Cindy...would listen...but you make mad and hurt...now Cindy hurt and Allen upset.”

 

“Who the fuck are Cindy and Allen?” The fish woman snarled.

 

“I BELIEVE HE MEANS THE WAILING WOMAN AND THE GIANT ARMED HUMAN THAT PLOWED IN TO GRAB THEM UNDYNE.” Papyrus guessed well and Echo pointed to him and nodded.

 

“Hm...So some of them can be reasoned with. Could you convince them to leave certain areas and allow our people to move in?” The king asked glancing at the child for just a moment before glaring back at Echo. Echo frowned tilting his head again in confusion, he had not known there were more people.

 

“Some...won’t listen...but most can...be herded.” Echo ventured thoughtfully. Once some of the infected were moved they generally stayed in the new area since they got too unsettled by constant changing.

 

“It can’t really be that easy to establish ourselves on the surface.” The goat woman said doubtfully, the child seemed a little wary as well.

 

“I dunno Toriel...if we swing this right we could probably get these plagued humans ta another city an’ just take th’ one near th’ mountain. Could expand as far as we want if we get enough sick humans like this one.” Sans reasoned, he seemed to be considering it as deeply as the king was. “How is your human Government? You said they were bombing cities to get rid’a th’ plague but how is that workin’?”

 

“...Shitty. Gov in _shambles_...Evac centers...making new towns...can’t fight off infected. We outnumber _and_ out-power...They _try_ but kill more than save...” Echo explained as well as he could. Honestly after having seen how the evacuation centers were behaving he had been very concerned for his parents but they had been accepted easily enough and he had not needed to jump in and rescue them. The king paused thoughtfully at this explanation.

 

“So...you’re numerous enough to overpower the humans.” The king seemed very interested by this information and that concerned Echo a little.

 

“They have _bombs_...level entire _cities_ …but...think too few. Losing bombs with people.” Echo tried to explain his belief that the only reason they were not leveling entire cities to regain control was because they did not have the manpower to actually work the bigger bombs.

 

“Well...all this information is certainly interesting.” The goat man smiled rather sinisterly and made Echo tremendously uncomfortable, especially with the way the others began to smirk as well. Only Sans, Toriel, and Frisk seemed wary.

 

Just what had Echo gotten himself into?


	5. Slipping Away

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Echo is NOT happy about his new situation. Sans lends him a hand, even if he can't let him out.

Echo was pouting in the corner, he sat crouched on all fours and refused to look at anyone in the room. Why? Because every time he tried to sneak out to go check on his friends one of the monsters would catch him and drag him back. It was not like he would not ever come back...maybe. But they refused to let him out of their sight! It was annoying and he just wanted to go home and take a nap and play a game. Bioshock was screaming for him, he could practically hear it!

 

“Are you seriously pouting right now?” The amused voice had taken to frequently annoying him. He refused to acknowledge Sans since this was entirely his fault, him and that Asgore king guy.

 

Echo’s new plan was to sit right where he was and refuse to move or speak until they let him out of this fancy cave to go check on his friends. Allen was probably worried sick and Cindy had never been very good at being patient with her own limitations, she would likely injure herself again without Echo there to constantly remind her of limitations. Echo’s irritability was _almost_ enough to distract him from his itchy arm, almost. He thought he might be growing a new boil again, he would need to lance it soon or the itch and sensitivity would drive him mad.

 

“You really gonna just sit there until the plan starts?” Sans asked, Echo turned his nose up at the wall. He planned to remain that way for the rest of his _life_ if he had to.

 

It was not like he was going to live for a long time with the Green Flu anyway right? The thought made him pause in his agitated scratching, he wondered how long one could live with the Green Flu. Normally any colds or influenza killed the host within a couple weeks if the host did not shake the illness off entirely. But it had been months already and he did not feel any weaker, a horrible thought occurred to him and he grabbed his wild dark blue hair with distress. What if this illness did not _actually_ shorten his lifespan and he was going to be stuck lancing boils and with a shitty voice until he was in his sixties!? The distressing thought caused him to whine loudly and flop into a heap on the floor. He did not want to live like this forever!

 

“What the fuck is wrong with you now?” Sans sighed exasperatedly.

 

Echo ignored him to have an existential crisis for a few moments until the irritation from his boil got so high that the irritation from everything else caused him to lash out snapping into his arm with his jagged teeth and a snarl. He bit through the cloth of his hoodie easily and popped it with his fangs releasing a putrid glob of green puss and a lot more blood. It stank to Echo’s senses so he immediately let go with his mouth.

 

“Well that’s just fuckin’ disgustin’. What the fuck’d ya do that for?” Sans asked watching as Echo yanked up his sleeve to make sure he pushed out all the puss from the wound he just made.

 

Echo’s arm was mostly filled with long but even cuts and stitches, he had been lancing his own boils for a while. Probably not a good idea but it was not like he could go to a doctor for it and he hated the boils more than anything. Both his arms, legs, and even his shoulders were mutilated in this manner. All of them were in varying states of healing, he had gotten pretty good at it though and his first aid skills had only improved during the plague. Reaching into his front pocket pouch he pulled out his first aid kit, he had been a bit reckless when popping this boil and was beginning to regret it. His own bite stung a lot as it turned out.

 

“Boil...itchy, annoyin’. Just fix.” Echo told him with a sigh as he opened up his bright red first aid kit and began rifling through it for the things he needed. He always kept at least one first aid kit on him, one could never be too careful with how trigger-happy the Immune were.

 

“That’s how you fix it?” Sans asked clearly skeptical about the practicality of it.

 

“No...lance better. But angry...not thinkin’.” Echo admitted as he pulled out a package of sterilizing wet wipes.

 

“Yeah well, can’t exactly just let ya go. No guarantee you’d come back.” Sans shrugged, he knew why Echo was angry. He did not need to be so rational about it though, Echo turned his head to stick his rather long tongue out at Sans.

 

“Word no good? Came back before.” Echo snipped as he carefully cleaned out the fresh self-inflicted wound, the alcohol stung as he dabbed at the bite mark, it seemed he had popped some of his previous stitches with that last move as well.

 

“Ya did, I’ll give ya that. But the surface is a shithole and ya could die without us knowin’.” Sans reasoned out with a scoff. Echo paused in his work furrowing his brows for a moment before tilting his head and looking back at Sans again.

 

“...Survived for months. You slow me down.” Echo told him with certainty.

 

Echo would be in more danger escorting these monsters around than he would be wandering around on his own to collect his friends. Turning back to his kit he threw his used wipes into a Ziploc bag and picked up his thread and needle instead. He began stitching himself together but heard Sans make an odd disgusted noise.

 

“What the fuck are ya doin’?” Sans asked, Echo raised an eyebrow at him for a moment before deciding that as a skeleton Sans likely never had to stitch himself back together.

 

“Stitch bite. Keep sterile. Heal faster.” Echo explained fairly patiently for how irritable he actually was. He had not forgotten that he was angry about being stuck in the ‘castle’ until they could explain to the rest of the Underground. That rundown was a hoot and a half.

 

“Ya humans suck at everything.” Sans scoffed dismissively, Echo snorted shaking his head. Clearly Sans had no idea just how complicated humans were and how difficult literally everything could be. “I got a better way. Let’s go get a burg.”

 

Echo paused in his stitching to frown skeptically at Sans. He did not understand how a burger was supposed to help his wounds. Then again...it had been months since he had a cheeseburger and the mere mention of his favorite food had him craving it badly. He had missed normal food, there were only so many times he could hunt down the local wildlife before he grew sick of it. Perhaps he had been spoiled by processed foods. He missed zebra cake rolls too.

 

“Can’t leave.” Echo told him flatly, the annoyance clear despite his ragged and choppy voice.

 

“Ya ain’t leavin’ the Underground. Besides, I know a shortcut, nobody’ll even notice we were gone.” Sans coaxed with a wide smirk. Echo was not sure why Sans was so adamant about getting him to go, likely he had gotten bored with his ‘guarding’ duty.

 

“Hrrrrr...fine. Finish stitches.” Echo agreed before turning back to stitching his arm. He _had_ wanted to make Sans as miserable as he felt but _cheeseburger_.

 

“Ugh, ya won’t need to sew yerself. C’mon.” Sans protested clearly annoyed by how meticulously Echo was sewing himself together.

 

It actually did not take him all that long but Sans was growing more irritable the longer Echo took. Echo became tempted to just take even longer with it. The pain however convinced him to do the stitching quickly. Though he took his time putting his supplies away when he was done, it was funny to hear Sans growl at him for taking so long just to stuff his first aid kit back into his hoodie. Echo had to bite his tongue to keep from laughing at him.

 

“Now ye’r just fuckin’ with me. Let’s _go_.” Sans barked hostile.

 

“Fine, fine. Lead.” Echo snickered getting up from his self-designated corner and approaching Sans.

 

“Finally. Close yer eyes.” Sans ordered, Echo shrugged and did as told. He heard a click and felt his stomach drop out, like the drop on an elevator. “Open.”

 

Echo opened his eyes and was surprised to find himself outside, or at least it seemed like the outside considering all the snow and buildings. But upon looking up he saw only darkness, not the darkness of night either, just darkness. He blinked and looked over at Sans with wide eyes, Sans only smirked at him for a moment before walking into a building labeled Grillby’s. Echo followed after him quickly and paused in the doorway. The entire bar was filled with such strange looking creatures, almost none of them were even vaguely human shaped. The only one apart from Sans was a tall man made of literal purple flames.

 

For a brief moment Echo saw this fire man and felt the vague notion that he had seen this man before. He almost laughed at the absurd thought and approached the bar to sit next to Sans. The flame monster paused when he sat down, as though examining him for a few moments. He looked like he raised an eyebrow at him. Echo smiled politely keeping his lips pursed over his teeth so he did not accidentally display the ugly things.

 

“Another human Sans?” The monster inquired his red gaze falling on Sans. Sans smirked up at him and nodded.

 

“This one’s gonna help us clear out some land on the surface. Get us all settled nice and cozy.” Sans explained rather easily. The monster paused glancing over at Echo again.

 

“He’s got that kind of authority up there? Figured we’d all go to war like the king wouldn’t shut up about.” The monster scoffed, Sans cackled loudly.

 

“That’s the best part, turns out we ain’t gotta. Most’a the humans died of _plague_. This one’s good with communication so he’s gonna help us clear out the ones that ain’t dead yet and get us our own spots up there.” Sans explained a little too gleefully for Echo’s liking. Echo furrowed his brows and scowled at him.

 

“If not for Green Flu...ya’d get slaughtered.” Echo said with a little huff his teeth clenched in a threatening snarl, Sans only laughed at him causing Echo to pout. Echo felt like it was true, the government would surely have bombed the entire mountain if they thought the monsters were posing a threat.

 

“Green Flu huh? That what did all of ya in?” The fire monster asked.

 

“...Hrrr...Flu and fighting. Got scared...humans don’t react well...to fear.” Echo tried to explain as clearly as he could through his ragged voice. The fire monster seemed to understand him easily enough and nodded.

 

“You really _don’t_ react well to fear.” The monster agreed crossing his arms over his broad chest.

 

“Ah, never mind all that Grillby. I’ll have the usual and the kid could use a burg. Bit a good chunk’a his own arm off earlier.” Sans requested, the fire monster seemed surprised and looked at Echo a little more closely for a moment.

 

“Cheeseburger please.” Echo agreed with a slightly eager nod. Anticipation was building in his gut as he imagined his first cheeseburger in months. Grillby nodded and retreated for a few minutes, presumably to get the requested foods.

 

“So...Echo. Ya got any ideas where to put everyone?” Sans asked leaning on the counter his head in his hand. Echo hummed thoughtfully tilting his head.

 

“...City center more cluttered. Should start with suburbs.” Echo admitted reasonably with a little shrug as he picked at his tattered sleeve.

 

“Subs huh. Yeah, I guess the thicker parts of the city would be harder to clear out. The Infected gonna give us a lot’a problems?” Sans asked eying Echo intensely. Echo shrugged a little.

 

“Infected not very smart...fever makes them dumb. Immune more... _dangerous_ …smart.” Echo explained a slump to his shoulders. Sans went quiet, thoughtful. It seemed he was planning something.

**Author's Note:**

> If anyone would like to contact the author for anything or you would like more info about Echo and his oc friends/family I made a blog for Echo. I even hand-drew a picture of Echo myself.
> 
> https://xlimbosxechox.tumblr.com/


End file.
